Linking Sara Duterte to China: What Trillanes’ testimony would have been about

SONNY. Former senator Antonio Trillanes IV files cyberlibel and perjury complaints against lawyer Levito Baligod and 18 'ex-Marines' who accused him of bribery schemes, at the Department of Justice on March 5, 2026.

Rappler

Trillanes claims that the 'Chinese government and corporations' sent hundreds of millions of pesos to companies or organizations associated with Vice President Duterte

AT A GLANCE

• Former senator Antonio Trillanes IV accused Vice President Sara Duterte of receiving hundreds of millions of pesos from the Chinese government and corporations.
• Trillanes claimed that Cale88, a food company founded by Duterte's husband, received P319 million.
• Trillanes was unexpectedly dropped as a witness in the impeachment trial, citing pressure on the prosecution team.

This is AI-generated. Read the article for full context. Report any errors.

MANILA, Philippines – Former senator Antonio Trillanes IV alleged on Friday, October 2, that entities tied to Vice President Sara Duterte received hundreds of millions of pesos in funds from the “Chinese government and corporations.”

Trillanes made the charges against the Vice President in his press conference after he was unceremoniously dropped from the prosecution’s lineup of witnesses in the impeachment trial.

The former senator said that Cale88, a food company, received P319 million in cash remittances from the Chinese government. Cale88 was founded by Duterte’s husband Mans Carpio, whose name appears in Duterte’s Statement of Assets, Liabilities, and Net Worth (SALN).

Trillanes did not provide documents to back up his claim, but said they will be revealed in the coming days.

“You’d be shocked by this. She is the Vice President. There are national security implications, and that’s prohibited. You cannot accept [something] from a foreign government, especially [if you are] a high-ranking official,” Trillanes said.

He raised supposed red flags in the operations of the company, from a low monthly electricity bill that doesn’t match the operations of a corporation, to its meager cash balance despite millions of pesos in sales.

Trillanes also claimed that China donated P150 million to Tapang at Malasakit Alliance for the Philippines, an entity whose board of trustees purportedly include the Vice President and Taguig Mayor Lani Cayetano, wife of trial senator-judge Alan Peter Cayetano.

Rappler has reached out to Duterte’s spokesperson Paolo Panelo for comment, but we have yet to receive a response. This story will be updated once we do.

Companies linked to Sara Duterte

Trillanes’ other allegations focused on the corporate records of companies linked to Duterte.

He said the SEC records of Timesquare Bee Foods and later Gencorp contained the allegedly fictitious name Ang Hai Peng. That person has no birth, marriage, and death certificates, no tax identification number, and no passport.

He noted that the foreign name later vanished from SEC records and was replaced by the new controlling entity JTC Group of Companies, owned by the Dutertes’ business partner Jaime T. Cruz. Cruz was a special envoy to China when Rodrigo Duterte was president.

Trillanes claimed that Cruz and Ang incidentally share the same birthday.

“They are one person. I am one hundred percent person that [Ang Hai Peng] is nonexistent,” he said.

Trillanes also flagged the Vice President’s supposed undeclared time deposits in her SALN. Bank records obtained by Trillanes showed that Duterte’s peso time deposits ballooned from P53 million in 2007 to P94 million in 2009, yet her declared cash on hand and in bank remained at P2 million.

The former lawmaker also rehashed previous allegations that the Duterte family received P181 million from businessman and alleged drug lord Sammy Uy.

Dropped as a witness

The prosecution team was supposed to call Trillanes to the witness stand, but later abandoned the plan without providing a clear reason. Our sources said some prosecutors were caught off-guard and were in the dark when lead prosecutor Jinky Luistro made the surprise announcement at impeachment court.

Trillanes said his decision to withdraw was made to relieve the prosecution of the pressure it was facing, but he declined to explicitly identify the individual behind the supposed pressure. When asked about it on Friday, he sidestepped the question and took a swipe at presiding officer Chiz Escudero.

“You should have asked him: why did the presiding officer not issue a subpoena [to me]?” Trillanes said of Escudero.

Escudero previously suggested to the prosecution that the Anti-Money Laundering Council and the bank witnesses be presented first before Trillanes. – Rappler.com